1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a supercontinuum generation system.
2. Related Art
First observed in 1970, a supercontinuum is generated when an optical pulse with high energy intensity and a narrow spectrum is largely broadened in spectrum by passing through an optical device of stronger nonlinear effects. If the pulse energy required to generate a supercontinuum can be decreased, this kind of white light source generated by the supercontinuum can be applied to the measuring of biology, chemistry and material due to the natural coherence and high base-mode luminance. Because the white-like LED source generated by mixing two complementary lights is not a continuous spectrum and the fluorescent lamp is heavier and not adaptable sufficiently, the white light source generated in the supercontinuum manner is obviously a promising light source in the future.
The supercontinuum is generated by the cooperation of multiple optical nonlinear effects. The current research mainly focuses on decreasing the least average input power required to generate the supercontinuum on the premise that the output spectrum is broadened sufficiently. To achieve this goal, there are two aspects needed to be improved. One aspect is to confine the inputted energy of the light source to a narrower pulse to achieve the higher transient light intensity. The other aspect is to use the optical device with stronger nonlinear effects. The supercontinuum generated by such methods usually appears in the anomalous dispersion region.
To confine the inputted energy of the light source to a narrower pulse, an amplified femtosecond laser is required, and currently the Ti:Sapphire laser is the most frequently used. However, Ti:Sapphire is too big and expensive. Besides, the optical devices with stronger nonlinear effects also result in the problem of the higher cost.
Therefore, it is an important subject to provide a supercontinuum generation system that can generate a supercontinuum in an easier method without using femtosecond laser.